Macbook 2009 Memory Upgrade

wcrockett

Reputable
Feb 26, 2016
54
2
4,535
I recently picked up a late 2009 macbook (white), and I would like to upgrade the memory. I've done this sort of thing many times before, and was surprised when I tried many sodimms that I already had, and they didn't work. (3 tone error sound).

It came with 2 gigs of ram installed (2 one gig sticks HMT112s6BFR6C - g7 AA) and I most recently attempted to replace them with ram from a macbook 2011 (2 2 gig sticks HMT235S6CFR8C - PB NO AA) however this also resulted in error tones (3 short 3 long).

Why is it that these aren't working? Are there any setting that I can tweak while the original ram is in to prepare it? Thanks.
 
Solution


Sorry - you're right. The late 2009's were DDR3; the early and mid-2009's were DDR2.

A quick Google search didn't turn up anything for the specs of the RAM in the 2011 you gave the code for, but it looks like those came with faster RAM than the 2009, which only supports 1066 MHz or lower RAM (PC3-8500). 2011's were 1333 MHz. In a typical PC, this should work, but I've seen reports of people doing it in the late 2009 MBP too. Hmm.

Perhaps see if there are any firmware updates for that machine available?

http://www.chriswrites.com/how-to-check-and-update-your-macs-firmware/


Sorry - you're right. The late 2009's were DDR3; the early and mid-2009's were DDR2.

A quick Google search didn't turn up anything for the specs of the RAM in the 2011 you gave the code for, but it looks like those came with faster RAM than the 2009, which only supports 1066 MHz or lower RAM (PC3-8500). 2011's were 1333 MHz. In a typical PC, this should work, but I've seen reports of people doing it in the late 2009 MBP too. Hmm.

Perhaps see if there are any firmware updates for that machine available?

http://www.chriswrites.com/how-to-check-and-update-your-macs-firmware/
 
Solution

wcrockett

Reputable
Feb 26, 2016
54
2
4,535


I'll give that a try. Yeah, the preinstalled ram is 1067 mhz. Thanks!